However, Ego’s consciousness still existed in every remaining portion of itself, and exposure to the sun’s energy helped revive it. Ego gradually rebuilt itself, reclaiming and repairing the thruster. Seeking new energy, Ego disguised itself as an idyllic paradise-like sphere to lure space travelers into landing upon it. A party of Dire Wraiths fell for Ego’s trap and set up a base on its surface. When they fought the Spaceknights Seeker and Scanner, Ego pulled them all beneath its surface to begin digestion. However, Rom the Spaceknight came to his comrades’ rescue and forced Ego to release them by threatening to fire his Neutralizer into Ego’s brain. The Dire Wraiths were sent to limbo by Rom before Ego could consume them.
Ego became an ally of the Elders of the Universe, who accepted Ego into their ranks because it was the only creature of its kind, just as the Elders were each the last survivor of their species. Ego served as the Elders’ mobile base of operations and fought the Silver Surfer on their behalf, attempting to consume the Surfer’s energies, but the Surfer seized control of Ego’s thruster and threatened to steer it into a sun, forcing Ego to release him.
Ego later encountered the Korbinite fleet, led by Beta Ray Bill, and attacked them, destroying several ships. When Ego revealed to Bill that it was being driven mad by Galactus’ thruster, Bill had the fleet destroy the thruster. In gratitude, Ego offered to make itself the Korbinites’ new home, but Bill refused, suspicious of Ego and knowing that the Korbinites would resent Ego for having killed some of them. Bill deserted Ego.
The enigmatic Celestials transformed the Black Galaxy into a new member of their race, and this Celestial contacted Ego. The High Evolutionary (Herbert Wyndham) investigated this, and as Ego was being consumed by an immense Super-Ego, speculated that Ego might be a single manifestation of a larger being and that more than one Ego may exist. More Celestials came to examine Ego’s dilemma, but how Ego escaped the Super-Ego is unknown.
As part of a complicated ploy to reestablish the Kree Empire, the Supreme Intelligence took control of Ego and sent it out to assault other worlds, attempting to “awaken” them with its energies so that those worlds would become sentient. Ego destroyed the homeworld of the Krylorians in its rampage, and the incident heightened tensions among the extraterrestrial races making up the Intergalactic Council. The Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd), Professor X (Charles Xavier), and Cadre K prevented it from destroying the Shi’ar throneworld, but the Supreme Intelligence arranged Ego’s seeming destruction before they could discern its purpose.